Hand covering



Jain. 19, 1937. F. s. JACKSON HAND COVERING Filed April 25 1935 aww/wboz f'. M40260",

Patented Jan. 19, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to a hand covering which may be referred to as a shield and is intended for use by people working in glass factories and other places where it is necessary to handle objects in the presence of heat such as when articles of molded glass and the like must be removed from an oven. W

One object of the invention is to provide a shield of such construction that it may be applied to the hand and held in shielding relation to either the back or palm of the hand and to further so construct the shield that when it is disposed at the back of the hand it will very effectively prevent the back of the hand from being injured by excessive heat when removing an article from an oven, but, at the same time, allow the workman to very easily grasp the article and remove it from the oven.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the shield that it will be flexible, thereby permitting free movement of the hand when the shield is disposed either at the back or palm of the hand and thus permit the shield to be conveniently used either for reaching into a hot oven and removing an object which can be grasped with the bare hand, or when grasping an object which is sufiiciently hot to make it necessary to shield the palm and fingers to prevent burning thereof.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein- Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the improved shield or covering applied in shielding relation to the back of a hand.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken transversely through the shield.

This improved shield consists of a pliable body I formed of a multiplicity of layers or plies, and by referring to Figure 2 it will be seen that it consists of an outer sheet 2 formed of strong fabric such as ticking, canvas, or any other suitable fabric, an intermediate layer 3 of felt or other material which will serve as a heat insulating medium and an inner layer 4 of thin fabric, such as loosely woven cotton material. Marginal portions of the three layers or sheets of material are stitched together, as shown at 5, and there has also been provided lines of stitching 6 which extend longitudinally of the shield for the full length thereof and in spaced relation to each other. These lines of stitching 6 serve to retain the three layers of material in close contacting engagement with each other and act as reinforcements. A finger engaging band 1, which is of sufficient width to be easily grasped when the fingers are closed, extends transversely across the forward end portion of the body I and has its end portions firmly secured by the marginal stitching 5 and the lines of stitching 6 which are spaced a short distance from side edges of the body. The intermediate portion of the band 1 is left free so that the fingers may be easily slid into place between the band and the body. It should also be noted that due to the width of the front band, the fingers will be covered for an appreciable extent and, therefore, when a hot object is grasped between the thumb and fingers, it will bear against the portion of the band extending across the fingers and shield the fingers for at least half their length. This band i may be formed of canton fiannel or similar non-elastic fabric, and as this fabric is rather thick, it will provide a good shield for the portions of the fingers across which it extends. A band 8, which is formed of elastic fabric, extends transversely across the rear end portion of the shield or body I with its end portions secured thereto by the marginal stitching and the longitudinal rows of stitching close to side edges of the shield. The intermediate portion of this elastic band is left free and, when the shield is worn, the rear band will be expanded somewhat as the hand is thrust through it and then contract and have sufficient binding engagement across the wrist to hold the shield in the proper position, as shown in Figure 1.

When this shield is in use, the hand is thrust forwardly under the bands 8 and 1 until the fingers are disposed between the band 1 and the shield and the rear band 8 extends across the wrist. If the. shield is disposed at the back of the hand it will serve very effectively to prevent scorching of the skin when a workman thrusts his hand into a hot oven and grasps an article which is tobe removed. The skin upon the palm of the hand and front or inner portions of the thumb and fingers becomes very tough by contact With articles formed of hot glass or other hot material, but the skin upon the back of the hand remains tender and is liable to be burned when reaching into an oven. In view of the fact that the shield is formed. of flexible material, it may be readily crumpled in any direction and, therefore, it may be applied either in shielding relation to the back of the hand or in'shielding relation to the palm of the hand. This latter position of the shield will cause it to cover the palm and fingers of the hand and will be so worn when an unusually hot object is to be removed. By applying two of the shields, one at the back and the other at the front of the hand,

a hot object which is liable to burn even a tough hand may be grasped and removed from a furnace, the heat of which would be liable to scorch the back of the hand if only one shield were used. When the shield is no longer needed it may be easily removed and rolled so that it may be placed in a pocket until needed.

While it has been stated that the device can be worn at the back of the hand in order to shield the tender skin while grasping and removing hot objects from an oven, it will be obvious that it may also be worn as a protection for the back of the hand when using tongs for removing very hot objects and also by bakers or cooks while removing hot pans from an oven. It may also be worn as a shield for the palm of the hand by brick layers, stone masons and others who have to handle hard or rough objects which are liable to cut or bruise the hands. There are also, no doubt, many other occasions when the device will be found very useful as a, hand protector.

The device may be worn over a glove if so desired and also one or more fingers may be left free from the band I to permit an article to be more readily grasped by a workman.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

A hand covering comprising a flexible body consisting of front and rear layers of thin flexible fabric and an intermediate layer of flexible heat insulating material, rows of stitching extending longitudinally of the body for the full length thereof in transverse spaced relation to each other, the body being of a length and width adapting it to cover a persons entire hand with its rear portion extending in covering relation to a persons wrist and its front end portion projecting beyond ends of the fingers, a forward strip of flexible inelastic material extending transversely across the body in spaced relation to the front end thereof with its end portions secured flat against marginal por tions of the body and the intermediate portion of the strip free, and a rear strip of elastic flexible material extending transversely across the body in spaced relation to the rear end thereof with its intermediate portion free whereby a hand may be thrust longitudinally of the body between the body and the strips towards the front end of the body to dispose the front strip across a persons fingers and the rear strip across a person's wrist and hold the body in shielding relation to the wrist and the entire hand with the thumb free and forward portions of the fingers projecting forwardly from the front strip and free.

FRANK S. JACKSON. 

